I’m guessing that most of us have read about this supposed “ban” from Chesky. In a nutshell, the blame for these “Party House rentals” are laid at the foot of the Hosts. IMO, the “rules” dictated to hosts from Air encourages bad guest behavior and sets the stage for tragedies such as this. The host bashing has to stop, the blame lays squarely on Air itself and Chesky is desperate to deflect and again, take no responsibility. If you disagree with this and feel Air has your back, I’m happy for you, but I would appreciate if this thread isn’t turned into an argument over this difference of opinion. But for those that feel Air promises trust and safety, pushes hosts to accept guests that should not be allowed to book, while giving all risks to the hosts, I hope you can take a few minutes to join the growing pushback from hosts.
The following post has gotten media attention and is all over social media. The gentleman that wrote it has been contacted by a reporter interested in interviewing hosts. These interviews will take place later today and if you are interested in being heard, please contact him via FB asap. He can be found here or here zafarmawani@icloud.com
Zafar Mawani
I have shared my response to Brian Chesky’s tweet yesterday regarding the events in Orinda on several Facebook Airbnb host pages. It appears the post may have struck a chord with a few hosts. Some hosts have asked how they could lend support to the response to Chesky’s statement.
In response to the tragedy in Orinda, CA Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said Airbnb will “redouble our efforts to combat unauthorized parties and get rid of abusive host and guest conduct, including conduct that leads to the terrible events we saw in Orinda”.
Mr. Chesky further said “I have directed Margaret Richardson from our Executive Team to oversee this new team and initiate a 10 day sprint to review and accelerate the development and implementation of these new safety initiatives.” While Margaret Richardson begins her 10 day safety sprint, I submit to her and her team that holding hosts and guests accountable should start with holding Airbnb itself accountable for this tragedy.
How could Airbnb have been more responsible and possibly prevented this tragedy? Let me count the ways!
- Ensuring more rigorous ID Verification;
- Not allowing guests to delete their profiles and start new ones using the same ID credentials;
- Ending the practice of letting unfair guest reviews stand without an editorial decision by Airbnb on fairness or accuracy. /Exercising broader discretion to remove guest reviews which are posted against a reputable host;
- Not allowing guests unsubstantiated allegations (such as cameras inside a home) automatically suspend the listing pending investigation;
- Ending the policy of refunding guests unused nights when a guest has been kicked out for rules violations;
- Ending the policy of becoming the final arbiter on guest refund if the guest is unhappy, leaving the issue of refund entirely up to the host (like BDC or homeaway);
- Paying out damage claims based on credibility of the parties (a host with 600 reviews of 4.9 should be more credible than a guest with no prior reviews);
- Allowing hosts to see how many refund claims the guest has asked for in the past or how many damage claims have been filed against the guest by other hosts;
- Allowing hosts to see the reviews the guest has left for previous hosts;
- Scanning social media for posts about parties —or how to scam a host —and canceling the reservation right away which it pertains to. (Software is very good now to get this dome)
If Airbnb wants hosts to behave responsibly it must give hosts the right screening tools (the ones which hosts have been demanding for years).
If Airbnb sincerely wishes hosts to behave responsibly, it cannot implement policies which scare hosts from enforcing house rules.
This is not new information. Hosts have been alerting Airbnb for years about the link between Airbnb policies and dangerous, irresponsible and reckless behavior by guests.
Airbnb chose to take no notice.